27 Feb 2011

The 2 weeks to better skin challenge

Is your skin spotty, dry, dull, wintery? Yeah me too. My skin is disgusting at the moment so therefore I've taken the 2 weeks to better skin challenge. Your body needs a detox after the excesses of Christmas, and so does your skin from the excess of dry weather, foundation and abuse.

Here's my diary as I complete the challenge, showing you the progress from my makeup-free skin on Day 1 to the progress on Day 14. That's right, I'm going to show you my makeup-free, spotty face and write my diary from self-conscious and spotty to hopefully glowing and gorgeous.

So here's my face without makeup on. This is a brave moment for me. I suffered from acne since I was 11, and even though I was on roaccutaine a few years ago, I still get spots and still have the "acne sufferer mentality" where I feel spotty and minging. But never once did I think I'd put my makeup free face on the WORLD WIDE WEB!

So what are the rules of this challenge?

For the next 2 weeks I will be following these rules:

Cleanse, tone and moisturise in the morning and before bed. Really look after your skin and you'll quickly notice the difference. Here's the products I'm using:

Liz Earle Cleanse and Polish, Liz Earle instant boost skin tonic, and Liz Earle skin repair moisturiser. I'm using Liz Earle because I have really sensitive skin and these products are perfect to sooth my skin and stop me getting spots. Use the products that are good for you and you know agree with your skin

Exfoliate twice a week, apply a deep cleansing mask once a week and use a spot cream on problem areas. I'm using the new Liz Earle Problem Skin set which is £20.65 for the exfoliator, face mask and spot on, including a fetching hairband which I'm wearing in the above pic, and sponges. You can get it from here, I'd really recommend it.

Don't wear foundation for the whole 2 weeks. This is the hardest part but letting your skin detox and breathe for the whole 2 weeks is really important. You can still wear all your normal make-up and wear under-eye concealer and a bit of concealer on your spots, but no blusher, bronzer, powder or foundation to clog up your skin.

Wash all your makeup brushes!

Wash your hair up-side down with the shower head if you can. Shampoo, conditioner and hair products are full of chemicals which can do allsorts to your skin. If you can, washing your hair up-side down so the shampoo doesn't go on your face is REALLY helpful. I noticed a difference really quickly. You know if you have a slight shampoo/conditioner allergy if you get bumpy spots around your hairline, forehead and temples/jawline - the places that the water runs down.

Drink lots of water. Everyone knows this is good for your skin.

﻿

Day 1:

Today I left the house with no makeup on other than my eyeliner, mascara, lipgloss, under-eye concealer and concealer over a spot on my right cheek.

I felt disgusting. I went shopping in Southampton, and walking through John Lewis I felt like all the beauty counter girls were staring at me thinking urgh. I wanted to hide my face, luckily for my tube-neck jacket.

I started to calm down though, and when I caught myself in a mirror, I realised that I didn't actually look that hideous, it was all in my head. Yes I didn't look as well made-up and neat as I usually do covered in foundation, but I looked alright, and some young lads made sexual comments to me as I walked past (yes the kids in the area I live are rude, but it was a bit of a confidence boost that they made lewd comments rather than run away screaming I was a spotty monster).

When I got back, my boyfriend didn't say anything about me wearing less makeup, but did say I looked lovely. I thought that was because he HAD to say it, but he said I looked less orange and more pretty!

Due to my self consciousness yesterday, I decided to try an unusual "halo pleat" hair-do to distract from my skin.

I still feel self-conscious, I recorded my first YouTube video today (which you can see here) and felt the whole time when people are watching it, they must just be thinking "eww look at her terrible skin, look at her acne scars". Some lovely comments from the girls on Twitter reminded me that people aren't hunting out my imperfections and the hair distraction is working!

Verdict - it's getting easier to cope without foundation, I'm learning to forget my skin and it was a huge compliment that none of my YouTube video watchers commented on it! Gave me a reality check that nobody is staring at my skin.

I'll keep you updated on my progress over the 2 weeks. Are you going to take the clearer skin challenge? x

Your skin looks incredible naturally; I don't see any acne scars, redness, uneven tone... as jealous as I am I'm also very excited to see the results of this!Oh, and I'm pleased to see someone else uses one of those weird headband things - the boyfriend always takes the piss out of me for it!xo

Lauren,Your skin is absolutely lovely and you look gorgeous. It really does come down to the fact that all we can see is our own imperfections. Everyone thinks you look lovely. Kudos to you for going two weeks without foundation. I try to do this in the summer so I don't see as many people! I cannot wait to see how it turns out for you!

I think you're right. We can all see our bumps and spots and stuff, but I'm quickly realising from this challenge that other people can't! Maybe rather than coming out the end with better skin, I'll come out loving the skin I have! xxx

Good on you for "exposing" your skin to the world! I have to say this is a whole concept I've never quite grasped - I'm the total opposite to pretty much the entire world and would actually feel less confident and beautiful with layers of make up on my skin!! I was lucky enough in my teens to not suffer from acne, although I suffered from lack of self confidence caused by other factors.... And even now in my late 20s (Eeek!) I'll only get the occasional stress spot. I guess it becomes a vicious cycle of applying foundation to cover up and feel more confident, but in turn this doesn't allow the skin to heal or breathe. I hope after this you do have more confidence in your skin and yourself to go out more often "naked"!! You should embrace your natural beauty :-) xx

Guy here. Just want to let you know from a guy's perspective that what really matters is your eyes. Eyeliner and a tiny bit of eyeshadow is all I would ever ask, if I'd ask for any at all. If the way you look without makeup is okay with you on the inside, people will know it on the outside.

How did your then-newly-found beauty regimen go? I get that you were conscious about your skin, but honestly, it doesn’t look as terrible as you thought. Yes, it looked a bit dry, but it’s nothing that a good moisturizer couldn’t fix, and your spots weren’t even that noticeable. Nonetheless, I hope this beauty regimen worked perfectly for you.